- Opener: Listen to voiceover account of the dust storms and view images, write (type) notes into wikispace notebook on whatever you can understand.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEYb9xjAhHI&feature=related
- Create key term chart in notebook and fill in definitions as best possible based on background knowledge: what do you think you already know?
- 4 column chart: term, definition, importance, image
- Key terms: Drought, Great Plains, Dust Bowl, Migrant, Okie
- Teacher-led discussion, using maps, of U.S. geographic regions, focusing on the Great Plains - defining that region and its main characteristics. Students take notes, including location of the Dust Bowl in the lower Great Plains, and embed a map in their virtual notebooks below their notes.
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdustM.JPG (map of dust bowl)
- http://www.aisc.org/uploadedImages/Steel_Solutions_Center/Conceptual/My_Region/Files/041708-web.gif (map of U.S. regions)
- Read and mark up overview of the Dust Bowl (excerpted from WGBH's American Experience site) in a Google Document (or Word Doc or Crocodoc). Students link and/or embed marked up document into virtual notebook. Below that link/embedded doc, students summarize what they learned about the Dust Bowl.
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/dustbowl-introduction/
- Return to vocabulary and fill in as best possible.
- Teacher transitions to the topic (and historical theme) of artists capturing historic events. Students read a brief biography of Woody Guthrie, then listen to his song "Pastures of Plenty." Students then read the song's lyrics and write notes on Guthrie's main messages in the song. Students then pairshare these thoughts and add to theirs based on discussion with a neighbor. Teacher may want to play the song one more time with students having the lyrics and their notes accessible.
- http://www.woodyguthrie.org/biography/biography2.htm (Guthrie bio)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH2DJvgNlMA (Pastures of Plenty - song & images)
- http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Pastures_Of_Plenty.htm (Pastures of Plenty lyrics)
- Students read biography of Dorothea Lange and view a portfolio of her pictures of Dust Bowl refugees, then choose two that most speak to them, embed them into virtual notebooks with captions. Below two photos, students summarize Lange and her work. Students then pairshare and add to their summaries.
- http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Dorothea_Lange.php (Lange bio)
- http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/index.html (Lange photos)
- Teacher transitions into topic of government response to the Dust Bowl crisis. May be a time to review previous knowledge of New Deal programs, especially those aimed at aiding farmers and addressing rural conditions. Students then use American Experience site timeline to identify what the Roosevelt administration and government agencies did to attempt to help those affected by the Dust Bowl. Students create own condensed timeline with just those entries related to government efforts to help Dust Bowl victims. All entries should be paraphrased. Below timeline notes, students summarize government efforts.
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/dustbowl/
- Students return to vocabulary chart to make sure it is complete. Teacher may want to have students add entries for Guthrie and Lange.
- Students create a Slide presentation to summarize what they have learned about the Dust Bowl. Slide presentation should include a title slide and then at least 5 others, each with an image and a thoughtful caption. Slide presentation is embedded into virtual notebook.
- http://www.slide.com